Kathmandu, April 26 -- Former state minister for health and Nepali Congress leader Tirtharam Dangol passed away on Friday evening at the age of 77.

He was receiving treatment at Kathmandu Medical College and had long battled prostate cancer and diabetes.

A respected figure in Nepal's democratic movement, Dangol was a founding member of the Nepal Student Union, the student wing of the Nepali Congress.

He was elected deputy mayor of Kathmandu Municipality in 1986, a member of the House of Representatives from Kathmandu-7 in 1999, and a member of the Constituent Assembly in 2008. Dangol, as district chief of Kathmandu of Nepali Congress, led the People's Movement in 2006, which paved the way for the abolition of the monarchy and establish...